ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic changed people's lives all over the world. While anxiety and stress decreased sleep quality for most people, an increase in total sleep time was also observed in certain cohorts. Dream recall frequency also increased, especially for nightmares. However, to date, there are no consistent reports focusing on pandemic-related changes in lucid dreaming, a state during which dreamers become conscious of being in a dream as it unfolds. Here we investigated lucid dreaming recall frequency and other sleep variables in 1,857 Brazilian subjects, using an online questionnaire. Firstly, we found that most participants (64.78%) maintained their lucid dream recall frequency during the pandemic, but a considerable fraction (22.62%) informed that lucid dreams became more frequent, whereas a smaller subset (12.60%) reported a decrease in these events during the pandemic. Secondly, the number of participants reporting lucid dreams at least once per week increased during the pandemic. Using a mixed logistic regression model, we confirmed that the pandemic significantly enhanced the recall frequency of lucid dreams (p = 0.002). Such increase in lucid dreaming during the pandemic was significantly associated with an enhancement in both dream and nightmare recall frequencies, as well as with sleep quality and symptoms of REM sleep behavior disorder. Pandemic-related increases in stress, anxiety, sleep fragmentation, and sleep extension, which enhance REM sleep awakening, may be associated with the increase in the occurrence of lucid dreams, dreams in general, and nightmares. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)
ABSTRACT
Some studies highlighted that patients with narcolepsy type-1 (NT1) experience high lucid dream frequency, and this phenomenon has been associated with a creative personality. Starting from the well-known "pandemic effect" on sleep and dreaming, we presented a picture of dream activity in pharmacologically treated NT1 patients during the Italian lockdown. Forty-three NT1 patients completed a web-survey during Spring 2021 and were compared with 86 matched-controls. Statistical comparisons revealed that: (a) NT1 patients showed greater sleepiness than controls; (b) controls showed higher sleep disturbances than NT1 patients, and this result disappeared when the medication effect in NT1 was controlled; (c) NT1 patients reported higher lucid dream frequency than controls. Focusing on dreaming in NT1 patients, we found that (a) nightmare frequency was correlated with female gender, longer sleep duration, higher intrasleep wakefulness; (b) dream recall, nightmare and lucid dream frequency were positively correlated with sleepiness. Comparisons between low and high NT1 lucid dreamers showed that patients more frequently experiencing lucid dreams reported a greater influence of dreaming during wakefulness, especially concerning problem-solving and creativity. Overall, our results are consistent with previous studies on pandemic dreaming carried out on healthy subjects. Moreover, we confirmed a link between lucidity and creativity in NT1 patients. Considering the small sample size and the cross-sectional design, our findings cannot provide a causal relationship between lucid dreams and the COVID-19 lockdown. Nevertheless, they represent a first contribution to address future studies on this issue, suggesting that some stable characteristics could interact with changes provoked by the pandemic.
ABSTRACT
Deciphering the significance of dreams, remains a dream till date. A little is known about its underlying mechanism, brain regions involved and implications with wake life. This review is aimed to investigate the latest developments to summarize the differences in nature of dreams in Rapid eye movement and Non rapid eye movement sleep, possible role of dreams in day to day life with larger focus on Lucid Dreaming- its significant role in elevating productivity and efficiency. To carry out this review, combination of keywords like Lucid Dreaming, Rapid eye movement, Non rapid eye movement, Sleep Cycle, Dream Patterns, molecular mechanism of dreaming etc. were entered in databases like National library of Medicine, Google Scholar etc. Nature and composition of dreams are distinct in different sleep phases and it tends to influence cognitive skills, memory consolidation, mood and personal temperaments. It was observed that dreams in distinct phases, can be directly/indirectly related to development of cognition, skill enhancements, learning, healing, and even stress management affecting overall performance and productivity of an individual. Understanding the nature of dream contents in different phases can possibly inculcate insights for not only recovery aid in several mental illnesses but for elevated efficiency and productivity in normal individuals as well. Realising dreams as an effective tool for its contribution in daily activities might help organising our mood and overall mental well-being, a foremost component to thrive in the contemporary world which is currently undergoing the chaos of Novel Coronavirus Disease 2019.